I-Ching Hexagram 28 – Ta Kuo – Preponderance of the Great

General: Staying alert and then intervening in a timely fashion will help forestall many difficulties.

Love: An unresolved conflict may require you to temporarily leave the situation.

Business: You may need to retreat from a difficult business venture.

Personal: Assess your ambitions for the future by letting go of the present.

This hexagram consists of four strong lines inside and two weak lines outside. When the strong are outside and the weak inside, all is well and there is nothing out of balance, nothing extraordinary in the situation. Here, however, the opposite is the case. The hexagram represents a beam that is thick and heavy in the middle but too weak a the ends. This is a condition that cannot last; it must be changed, must pass, or misfortune will result.

The weight of the great is excessive. The load is too heavy for the strength of the supports. The ridgepole, on which the whole roof rests, sags to the breaking point, because its supporting ends are too weak for the load they bear. It is an exceptional time and situation; therefore extraordinary measures are demanded. It is necessary to find a way of transition as quickly as possible, and to take action. This promises success. For although the strong element is in excess, it is in the middle, that is, at the center of gravity, so that the revolution is not to be feared. Nothing is to be achieved by forcible measures.

The problem must be solved by gentle penetration to the meaning of the situation (as is suggested by the attribute of the inner trigram, SUN); then the change-over to other conditions will be successful. It demands real superiority; therefore the time when the great preponderates is a momentous time.